Antique Collectors' Dictionary (C1)

Chelsea: The Chelsea porcelain factory was in existence by 1745; silversmiths of French descent seem to have been prominent in the founding of the works; Nicholas Sprimont, who was to become owner, may have been connected with the factory from the start. It is usual to speak of four periods at Chelsea: Triangle 1745-50; Raised Anchor 1750-4; Red Anchor 1754-8; Gold Anchor 1758-70. At first the body was glassy, the celebrated 'moons', or spots of greater translucency, persist until the late 50's when bone-ash was introduced into the paste. Oriental influences are strong in the early wares, but by 1750 Meissen tends to be the model and by 1758 Sevres provides the inspiration.

It is generally agreed that the finest porcelain made in England during the eighteenth century was made at Chelsea. Figures are particularly esteemed. Many of the best pieces bear no mark. A figure with a fine mark under the base is probably a forgery as it was customary to mark figures inconspicuously low down on the back.

Chelsea-Derby: In 1770 the Chelsea works was sold to William Duesbury and John Heath of Derby and the term 'ChelseaDerby' is applied to those wares thought to have been made at Chelsea after the Derby take-over. The Derby styles soon got the upper hand and many authorities now think that Chelsea quickly became little more than a studio for the decoration of porcelain made at Derby. The Chelsea works closed in 1784.

Cherry: Wood of close compact grain and reddish colour, used for inlay, also for making small pieces of furniture.

Chestnut: There are two varieties of this tree, the 'horse' and the 'Spanish' chestnut, both having almost white wood; used as a substitute for satinwood in the late eighteenth century.

Cheval: A large toilet mirror in a free-standing four-legged frame. These mirrors, also known as Horse Dressing-glasses, were first made in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, by which time it was possible to cast single plates of glass six or more feet long, a technical advance that permitted the making of toilet mirrors that would reflect the full height of a person standing close to the glass. In most examples the tall mirror swivels between the uprights on screws, but there is another type in which the mirror, balanced by weights within the uprights, can be moved up and down like a sash window.

Cheveret: A small table on slim tapering legs with a removable book-shelf or stand fitted to the top. Incorporated in this stand there may be small drawers (under the shelf proper).

Chichi Rugs: Caucasian rugs with geometric designs in blue, red, ivory, supported with browns and greens; three to five stripe border; Ghiordiz knot and medium weave.

Chien Ware: Stoneware of the Sung dynasty made at Chien-an (and later at Chien-yang), Fukein Province. The dark heavy body has an extremely thick black or blue-black glaze streaked with brown. Conical tea-bowls were the principal products, which were prized by the Japanese, who also copied the ware, and gave it the name temmoku. Other black-glazed wares from the provinces of Kiangsi, Honan and Chihli are usually termed Chien ware.

Chiffonier: A tall chest of drawers, quite narrow, the series of drawers designed to contain papers, jewels, or 'chiffons'; not to be confused with the following

Chiffonikre: A small set of drawers on legs.

Chimney-board: A board for blocking the fireplace when not in use, often decorated to match the walls of the room.

Ch'in Dynasty (221-207 s.c.): See Chinese.

Chinese: (Under this heading the main purpose is to give dates -for handy reference. The linking commentary cannot, for reasons of space, be other than a superficial survey of the Chinese achievement. Separate entries are accorded those wares that the collector is likely to encounter.)

Shang-Yin Dynasty (? 1766-1122? b.c. or, more likely, ?1600-1000? b.c.): worked in bronze-superb ritual vessels ceremonial jade, bone, ivory, stone, clay, tortoiseshell, marble. Money was in use-and a form of writing that is the parent of the present system.

Ch'in Dynasty (221-207 b.c.): bureaucracy and censorship; the 'burning of the books'; standardization of the written language and of weights and measures; the Great Wall completed.

Han Dynasty (206 b.c. to a.d. 220): Confucianism becomes orthodox; consolidation at home, conquests abroad; expanding foreign trade and a turning to the West result in textiles and wares reaching the Mediterranean; literature and art flourish; paper invented. The first monumental stone sculpture, glazed pottery, a felspathic stoneware that approaches porcelain, are but some of the achievements identified with Han.

The Three Kingdoms (A.D. 220-80) and The Six Dynasties (A.D. 265-581): 'Period of the Warring States'; disunion, wars, foreign invasion; ferment; Buddhism introduced; jewellery, sculpture, painting of a high order; glass imported from the West.

Sui Dynasty (A.D. 581-618): unity again, but the house of Sui soon gives way to the house of T'ang.

T'ang Dynasty (a.d. 618-906): the greatest epoch in China's long history, a golden age in which poetry, the visual and the plastic arts reach new heights; printing invented, paper money introduced. Porcelain invented in the late seventh or early eighth century (a merchant writing in 851 speaks of a clay as fine as glass from which drinking vessels are made and through which the shimmer of water can be seen). T'ang art is vigorous, robust, healthy, full of verve and shows a love of effects; but with the vigour goes restraint, refinement and a disciplined sensibility as regards proportion and the use of colour. Coloured pottery glazes are found in a number of colours green, blue, yellow, brown; the glaze frequently has a fine crackle and usually stops short of the foot-ring in an uneven line. Both impressed and incised designs of flowers and birds are typical. Those items of porcelain that have survived, mostly small bowls, are white and translucent true porcelain that must have been fused at a high temperature and contained a considerable proportion of felspar.

Sung Dynasty (A.D. 960-1279): the most 'civilized' dynasty of them all thanks to a cultured and cultivated ruling elite. A great period for collecting and cataloguing art of earlier times and this leads to much copying. In painting the landscape of mood is introduced; the weaving of silk tapestries is notable. A rich period for ceramics: Ting ware, celadon, painted stoneware; Sung pottery and porcelain are esteemed for calm unbroken surfaces, classical purity of form, and such techniques as monochrome glazing, painting on slip under the glaze, painting over the glaze, sgraffito.

Yuan or Mongol Dynasty (A.D. 1279-1368): foreign rule; the drama and the novel; bamboo painting reaches its peak; Western Europeans arrive in China. The earliest known examples of underglaze blue painting on porcelain date from the end of the Yiian dynasty, as does shu fu porcelain.

Ming Dynasty (A.D.1368-1644): Ming means bright. Attempts are made to emulate the great days of T'ang and this results in a Court of unparalleled splendour; there is a love of colour and decoration, rich figured silks and brocades, vigorous sculpture. Porcelain comes into its own, blue-and-white, enamel ware, Fukien wares. The manufacture of porcelain tends to be confined to a single city, Ching-t8-chen, and with abundant china stone and china clay near at hand a huge export trade-chiefly in blue-and-white, celadon, stonewareis built up, the markets ranging from the Philippines to East Africa. From about 1600 there is the beginning of the export trade to Europe and in 1635 it has been recorded that 129,036 pieces of porcelain were sent to the Dutch possession of Batavia for shipment to Holland.

Ch'ing or Manchu Dynasty (A.D. 1644-1912): Ch'ing means pure, clear. At first there is considerable territorial expansion: Tibet, Nepal, Korea, Mongolia, Manchuria, Turkestan, are all part of the empire. At the same time it is an antiquarian age, scholars devote incredible energy to the compilation of lengthy encyclopaedias and works of learning, there is much looking back, collecting, copying. In painting, the influence of the West is considerable (shading and perspective); in literature, the novel is notable. During the K'ang-hsi period European interest in China and Chinese art reaches its peak ('Chinoiserie'); and under this emperor there is a great revival of ceramics (which had declined at the end of the Ming era) with the rebuilding of the imperial factories at Ching-te-chen c. 1680. For many the most admired wares are those small monochrome pieces that recapture the pure forms of Sung; but there are new colours, turquoise-blue, sang-de-boeuf (ox-blood), many others; and, most familiar of all, the muchadmired underglazed blue and enamelled wares, the popular blue-and-white 'ginger jars', famille verte, famille noire, and, later (from the 1720's), famille rose (made for export only). The European market becomes more and more demanding; everything is copied, faience, Venetian glass, Delft pottery, Limoges enamels, not to mention the wares of former dynasties; and, of course, armorial china, European motifs, religious (Christian) decoration. But under three reigns (K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng, Ch'ien-lung-i.e. from 1662 to 1795) standards remain high, craftsmanship superb; not till the end of the eighteenth century does a decline set in, and by then Europe could supply her own needs from her own factories.

Ching-te-chen: Porcelain centre in the district of Fou-liang, Kiangsi Province, China. This ancient pottery source came under the patronage of the first Ming emperor, Hung-wu (1368-98) and went on to become the greatest ceramics-making centre the world has known.

Chinoiserie: The term means both a vogue for things Chinese and a European-made work of art in the Chinese manner (or what the artist thought was the Chinese manner). The vogue in Europe began quite early in the seventeenth century; the pseudo-Chinese furniture of Chippendale, the 'willow pattern' decoration of Minton and Spode, these are chinoiseries.

Chip-carving: Faceted surface ornament; rough carving executed on oak and other early furniture by means of chisel and gouge.

Chippendale, Thomas (1718-79): English cabinet-maker and designer whose reputation stands higher than that of any other. He was born at Otley, Yorkshire, the son of a. carpenter. It is thought he may have been apprenticed to a London cabinetmaker, but there is no definite evidence of this; what is known is that he married in London in 1748 and soon after that he had rented the premises in St Martin's Lane that he was to retain for the rest of his life. He worked with two partners, first James Rannie and then Thomas Haig. The business was continued after his death by his eldest son, another Thomas (1749-1822), in partnership with Haig.

While some furniture of superb quality has been identified as from Chippendale's workshops, his great reputation is due to his book of designs, The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker's Director. This folio volume was first issued in 1754, reprinted in 1755, and a third enlarged edition was issued in parts between 1759 and 1762. The Director was by far the most ambitious work of its kind published up to that date. Practically every type of domestic furniture of the mid-eighteenth century was illustrated. The first edition contained more than 150 plates; the third edition had some 200. Almost all the designs are in the Gothic, Chinese and Modern (rococo) fashions. Just how many of the designs were drawn by Chippendale is a matter for dispute, but the plates are signed by him and in the preface he took the credit for the entire work. It cannot be too often pointed out that 'Chippendale furniture' means furniture corresponding in style to the designs illustrated in the Director.

Chocolate Pot: Like the coffee pot but usually a little smaller, and the lid may have an aperture in it to allow a stirring stick to be inserted.

Chou Dynasty (?1122-249 s.c.): See Chinese.

Chaeh (Chinese): Ancient bronze vessel for heating and storing wine, the shape like that of an inverted helmet; has three (someti,nes four) pointed feet and a side-handle.

Chun ware: Stoneware of the Sung dynasty that comes close to porcelain; made at Chiin Chou, Northern Honan Province. There are several types of ware. The most esteemed has a light grey body and a downward-flowing glaze (which has an irregular lower edge) that is to be found in various shades of grey, blue, violet and red. A lavender glaze with purple mottling is another variety. And a distinct variety has a coarse yellowish or dark body but with a similar glaze to the finer wares.

Clapboard: Pine timber imported in board form from the Baltic countries for use in panelling.

Clavichord: A small rectangular musical instrument, with strings and a keyboard, that dates from the thirteenth century. The mechanism comprises strips of metal, the tangents, which are attached to the ends of the keys. When a key is depressed the appropriate tangent rises and strikes the string, causing it to vibrate. English clavichords are so rare that the collector can forget about them; but as the instrument continued to be made on the Continent till the beginning of the nineteenth century there is still some scope in that direction.

Clocks: The mechanical clock was invented during the last quarter of the thirteenth century, the earliest form probably being the Turret clock designed to be fitted to a church tower or other building. (The clock from Wells Cathedral was made c. 1390.) The first spring-driven clock was made about the middle of the fifteenth century. The earliest clocks were of wrought iron, with the use of brass coming in, on the Continent, in the sixteenth century, and in England, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Few domestic clocks were made in England before the seventeenth century. The first individual English type of weight-driven clock, the lantern clock, had a frame, dial and side doors of brass or iron and was surmounted by a bell; several specimens, made by the famous Fromanteels (q.v.) and dating back to the 1620's, are still in existence, and the lantern clock continued to be made till the beginning of the nineteenth century. The long-case or 'grandfather' clock came in the 1660's, with the pendulum (q.v.). The earliest were thirty-hour movements, but quite soon came the eight-day clock and then those designed to run for a month, three months, six months and (rarely) a year. The spring-driven mantel clock came into favour at about the same time as the long-case clock but few early specimens have survived as they were poor time-keepers and much more liable to damage. Many of these early mantel clocks were intended for the bedroom and contained repeating mechanism; they were an 'extra' in the house, often not much more than trinkets; until the middle of the eighteenth century most had the inaccurate verge escapement because of its one virtue-a clock so fitted could be taken from room to room and set down without elaborate levelling. But from about 1740 the mantel clock stayed on the mantel. There would almost certainly be a mirror behind it, and because of this the backplate lent itself to decoration. The anchor escapement became standard. The number of early mantel clocks with original verge escapements must be very few; most were converted to the anchor escapement but some have been reconverted to the verge.

The great age of English clock-making was from 1660 to 1750; the outstanding makers were the Fromanteels, East, Jones, the Knibbs, Tompion, Quare and Graham (qq.v.). The woods used for cases: at first, to c. 1685, veneered oak; then from c. 1670 to 1770, walnut; from 1760, mahogany. Dials: from 1660 to 1673, 8 to 8 1/2 in. square; from 1673 to 1,695, 10 in. square; from 1685 to 1712, 12 in. square; from 1705, rectangular, of greater depth than width. Until about 1710 the hood slides upwards to be removed; from about 1700 it slides forward. The top is likely to have a gable pediment c. 1660-75, a flat pediment (carved) c. 1665-1730, and to be arched from c. 1720.

Cloisonne Enamel: See Enamel.

Close Stool or Close Chair: Portable jakes, usually in box form, sometimes on short legs; the term dates from the end of the fifteenth century; the close stool gave way to the Night Table (q.v.) in the first half of the eighteenth century.

Clowes, William: Staffordshire potter who made black stoneware (basalts) and pottery generally, and was a member of the company that founded the New Hall (q.v.) hard-paste porceain factory. Active c. 1785 to c. 1812.

Club Foot: Plain type of foot on furniture, being found with the cabriole or straight leg throughout the eighteenth century.

Coalport: This porcelain factory founded about 1796 by John Rose who had been with Thomas Turner at Caughley. In 1799 Rose bought out his former employer and in 1814 transferred the Caughley concern to Coalport. Then in 1820 Rose acquired what was left of the Nantgarw enterprise and so secured Billingsley's recipes and moulds. John Rose died in 1841; his nephew, William Rose, continued the business till 1862, since when it has been in various hands.

The earliest Coalport cannot be distinguished from Caughley with any certainty. Generally speaking the paste is excellent and with a good glaze but there is a lack of aesthetic quality in form and decoration, save in the case of the more famous imitations. Sevres, Meissen, Chelsea, were all imitated extensively, complete with marks. From c. 1840 elaborate dinner and dessert services were a feature, lavishly gilded.

Marks include 'CD', csn', 'Coalport' in long-hand, 'John Rose & Co.' Note that the words 'Coalport' and 'Colebrookdale' are synonymous.

Coaster: Small wagon for use on the dining-table. Sometimes fitted with wheels, but examples are more likely to have a polished wooden base (which were originally covered with baize). They are to be found in various shapes and often with compartments to hold glasses, bottles. Also called sliders.

Cobb, John (?-1778): Cabinet-maker who, in partnership with William Vile (q.v.), was in business a few doors away from Chippendale (q.v.) in St Martin's Lane. Marquetry commodes were a speciality. He did work for George III.

Cobirons: Articles of chimney furniture, a form of andiron but for the kitchen, usually having hooks on the standards and a shaped top to take a cup or pot.

Cock-beading: Small moulding used round the edge of drawers; introduced about 1730.

Coffee-pot: Dates from the second half of the seventeenth century; it was always tall (early examples are straight-sided, conical) and has never lost height like the tea-pot.

Coffer: The distinction is sometimes made that a coffer as opposed to a chest should be covered with leather and laced with metal bands. A Coffer is also a sunken panel.

Coffer Bach: A box for a bible.

Coin: Term sometimes used in the eighteenth century for a corner cupboard; derives from the French encoignure.

Coin Glass: See Bnop.

Colebrookdale: See Coalport.

Collier: A form of necklet popular in the nineteenth century.

Collier Revolver: Invented by the Bostonian Elisha Collier c. 1814 and developed in England by Evans from 1819 onwards. This $intlock is considered the true ancestor of revolvers.

Colt Revolver: A percussion revolving pistol as made by the American, Samuel Colt. Most esteemed are his early 'Paterson'
models, made at Paterson, New Jersey, 1836-42. Colt went bankrupt but returned to firearms in 1847 when the Mexican War brought him a contract for 1,000 revolvers and thus began the famous enterprise at Hartford, Conn., where all Colts were thenceforth made except for those produced at the London factory between 1853 and 1857.

Combed Decoration: Ceramics decoration; a pattern used on the borders of plates and dishes in which curved parallel lines are stroked in towards the centre of the piece as if by a comb.

Commode: A French term, applied to a low case of drawers, described as a new word in 1708. The commode was adopted in England in the reign of George II and illustrated in the Director (1754 and 1762); japanned, inlaid and painted commodes were a feature of late Georgian furniture.

Confidante: A sofa with a seat added at each end (and often set at an angle to the sofa). The idea seems to have been that the added seats could be detached and used as easy chairs; but in some examples the extra seats are not removable. The fashion probably came from France in the 1770's. Not many were made.

Console: A bracket (usually of scroll shape in profile).

Console Table: A side-table partly supported by and usually fixed to a wall; the front supports are usually two legs of bracket shape.

Cookworthy, William (1705-80): Arcanust, Quaker; born at Kingsbridge, Devon, and became an apothecary, but with an interest in the manufacture of porcelain from at least 1745. In the 1750's he discovered china clay and china stone on the estate of Lord Camelford in Cornwall and in 1768 founded his hard-paste porcelain factory at Plymouth (q.v.), later transferring to Bristol (q.v.).

Copeland: See Spode.

Copenhagen: A soft-paste porcelain factory founded at Copenhagen about 1759 with the aid of the French modeller Louis Fournier who had been at Chantilly and Vincennes. This venture came to an end in 1765.

The hard-paste factory which is still in existence was established in 1774 and became the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory in 1779. The famous Flora Danica service, comprising about 1,600 pieces, was produced here 1789-1802. Copenhagen porcelain is noteworthy for its high glaze, subdued colours with pearly tints, superb modelling of figures, especially animals. Three horizontal wavy lines are the famous mark.

Coquillage (French=shell-fish): A shell-like ornament to be found on furniture of the mid-eighteenth century; favoured as a central ornament of a seat rail.

Corbel: A projection jutting from a wall or apiece of furniture and intended to take a hanging weight.

Cordial Glass: A small, delicate glass from which to drink cordial, i.e. liqueurs, first made in the 1670's. (It was customary to serve tea and cordials together throughout the eighteenth century.) Like miniature wine glasses, though the flute form became popular in the second half of the eighteenth century.

Corner Chair: See Roundabout Chair.

Corner Cupboard: Cupboards made for the corner of a room were known in the seventeenth century and became quite common during the William and Mary period. They were popular throughout the first half of the eighteenth century, both hanging and standing, lacquered often, sometimes in burr walnut veneer. They went out of fashion in the second half of the eighteenth century but, of course, continued to be made in country districts.

Cornice: The uppermost member of an entablature in classical architecture, and applied to furniture in the same way.

Coromandel: (1) Wood. Ebony imported from the Coromandel coast of India and used for banding; favoured during the Regency period; blackish with light stripes. (2) Lacquer. Incised Oriental lacquer popular in England from the second half of the seventeenth century; 'Bantam-work' (q.v.) is the more usual term.

Corona: Term for a hanging light, a metal hoop, used in churches and grand homes in medieval times.

Couch: The term was in use in the sixteenth century but it is difficult to be sure if the meaning had any other than that of day-bed; it may have been more grand. In the eighteenth century men seemed to prefer the term day-bed, ladies the term couch. During the Regency period the classical couch came into favour-by way of France.

Counter: Table or chest, the top of which was designed with spaces and symbols as aids in the counting of money. The counter dates from the Middle Ages and was popular till the end of the sixteenth century.
Court Cupboard A term used in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods for a side-board for the display of plate and for vessels in use during meals.

Crackle: (1) In porcelain, the crazing of the glaze intentionally for decorative purposes. (2) In pottery, the crazing that may take place, often long after manufacture, as a result of the unequal contraction of glaze and body. (3) In glass, an effect produced by the sudden. cooling of the surface of glass when still not completely blown.

Cream Jug: The silver cream jug was introduced at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the helmet shape being popular; by the middle of the century three feet are common, the lip is elongated and pointed, the handle has broken curves; the jug grows more and more slender, almost vase-like, and the feet disappear or become diminutive; then by the turn of the century the cream jug has a full, low body.

Creamware: Cream-coloured earthenware, supposedly first made by Thomas Astbury, but brought to perfection by Josiah Wedgwood who manufactured it on a large scale from the middle of the eighteenth century and by 1765 was exporting quantities of the ware to Europe where, more than any other single factor, it brought the manufacture of faience to an end. Also called 'Queen's ware'.

Credence (Italian credenza=cupboard): A small table by the altar side on which the bread and wine were set before consecration. The term has also been applied to a side table for the arranging of food and drinks to be served at table. English examples of the domestic credence are extremely rare.

Creepers (chimney furniture): Small andirons standing between large andirons (q.v.).

Cresset: An iron lamp like a basket in which a fuel was burnt; usually fixed to a rod.

Cresting: The carved decoration at the head of a piece of furniture, such as the top rail of a chair, or the ornament at the head of a mirror.

Crewel-work: Form of embroidery in fine worsteds popular throughout the seventeenth century for bed hangings.

Crich or Crouch Ware: Salt-glazed stoneware which may have been made at Crich in Derbyshire.

Cristallo: Venetian, from early sixteenth century, the superb, clear, ductile glass that was Venice's greatest contribution to glass-making.

Croft (maker's name): A small writing-desk-cum-filingcabinet made at the end of the eighteenth century-a dwarf piece of furniture.

Cross-banding: Banding of veneer in which the grain of the band runs across that of the ground. Popular throughout the eighteenth century.

Crown Wheel (horological): The escape wheel in a verge escapement. See Escapement.

Crunden, John: Furniture designer, published The Joyner and Cabinet-maker's Darling in 1765.

Crystallo Ceramie: Process of encasing a small object such as a cameo in a solid block of clear flint glass; the best made by the inventor of the process, Apsley Pellatt, between 1819 and 1835.

Cumming, Alexander (1732-1814): Scottish-born clock-maker who made many fine timepieces including the remarkable astronomical clock commissioned by George III and now in Buckingham Palace.

Cupboard: A cupboard was an open structure with shelves in the Middle Ages and what we would today call a cupboard was known as an-almery (q.v.) or aumbry. The use of cupboard in the modern sense did not become general until the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Curfew: A metal cover for placing over embers in the fireplace; perhaps used for safety but more probably to keep the embers alive during the night. The earliest known example dates from the first half of the seventeenth century. Rare.

Curule: A seat shaped like a camp-stool, used by Roman magistrates. In the Cabinet Dictionary (1803) a chair of different form, with semi-circular back and elongated seat, is illustrated as a curule chair.

Cutts, John: Porcelain and pottery painter who was manager of the Pinxton factory (q.v.) and did work for the Wedgwoods.